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The Pixel's Fatal Flaw

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October brings a lot of things Autumn, candy and of course new Pixel devices and ever since these devices hit the shelves in 2016 reviewers and consumers alike have been raving about how good the camera is on the Pixel. But with all phones converging into the same minimal bezel glass sandwich design the Pixel is about to stumble into a whole new problem.

Exclusives!

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The Pixel has long prided itself on it's camera. In 2016 when the Pixel came out the camera on the original Pixel blew the competition away with only the iPhone 7+ or S7 coming close. This time around in 2017 while being the one of the best cameras in the business the Pixel 2 could not be crowned the best camera in 2017 ( Don't bring up DXo Mark just don't). The cameras on the iPhone X really gave the Pixel 2 a run for its money.
Looking back at the phones released in 2017 we see a trend the S8 had a gorgeous design, the V30 had a beefed up headphone jack, the Razer Phone was built for gamers, the iPhone X had FaceID and a gorgeous design (Touch ID isn't coming back) , the OnePlus5 had an attractive price point. You see all theses phones had a unique selling point a feature that no one else had and when you look at the Pixel 2 , You have an okay phone with one of the best cameras on the market emphasis on one of the. The Pixel does't really push any boundaries, like its competitors no amazing design,no amazing new technology just a vanilla phone which is good. Now you might say that the iPhone 7 didn't push a lot of boundaries but Apple has always bundled in exclusives with it's devices be it iMessage or the Apple ecosystem.  At the price point the pixel is selling at customers expect some exclusivity. Customers value exclusivity a lot. Look at the Nintendo Switch, it isn't rocking the most powerful hardware out there, but customers flocked to the Nintendo Switch cause of it's exclusives. You cannot absolutely get them anywhere else. 
The story of the exclusives bundled with the Pixel are hilarious. The Google assistant was exclusive to the Pixel on launch and a few months later the Google Assistant was natively supported on any Android phone running 6.0.0 or above. Adding insult to injury the Google Assistant was even available on iOS the platform the Google Pixel was designed to get people to switch from. With the Pixel 2 the story is no different the Pixel Buds suck and work with any Android phone, and of late we have been hearing rumours about how Google Lens an exclusive feature of the Pixel 2 will be coming to the iPhone.
Now heed my warning exclusives can make or break a phone. This is especially true for the Pixel series, If the Pixel 3 isn't exciting the Pixel lineup is going to take a beating( Pixel 3 predictions: Dual Camera, Notch, Wireless Charging). Customers can just buy another phone, a cheaper phone might I add and put stock Android on it and get essentially the same Pixel experience. With phones like the S9 with its revamped camera coming in hot the Pixel team has their work cut out for them.   
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